Three children have died at the state-run Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur city following a “mysterious fever” in the past 24 hours, doctors said on Thursday, weeks after over 30 children died within 48 hours at Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College.
Head of the hospital’s paediatrics department, Dr AK Arya, said most of the children were suffering from cough and cold and pneumonia-like symptoms and were treated accordingly.
The hospital claimed to have taken all possible measures and said the parents brought the children to the hospital late after getting them treated by quacks, thereby losing crucial time.
There are 56 other children admitted to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with similar symptoms.
About 280 children were examined at the out patient department and 50% of them were admitted to the hospital on Thursday. The children who were suffering from high fever were under intensive monitoring, Dr Arya said.
The state’s top health official has asked the director of education (madhyamik) to tell school authorities to allow children suffering from cough and cold a leave for a week to contain the spread of infection.
They have been directed to check regularly for students with symptoms of running nose. They have also been asked to not hold collective prayers at schools.
{{/usCountry}}They have been directed to check regularly for students with symptoms of running nose. They have also been asked to not hold collective prayers at schools.
{{/usCountry}}There were reports of two more swine flu patients dying during treatment, taking the toll from the disease to eight in the city.
The state of the affairs at the hospital highlights the challenges faced by India’s underfunded and overburdened public health system, where successive governments have failed to address the acute shortage of doctors and infrastructure. The problems are compounded by cases of shoddy medical treatment.